WSOP Final Table (Day 1)

Action as promised got back under way yesterday at the Rio. Thus far, the players have been at it for over 16 hours! Yes, you read that correctly! Poker is indeed a sport, if you consider Raw Endurance as a sport... I feel for you guys. Hang in there. And "hang" they must as the goal is to play the final 9 down to the final 2, before anyone can call it a day. When play resumed on this "Day 1" of the Final Table, here's the tale of the chip stacks:

Seat 1: Darvin Moon (58,930,000)
Seat 2: James Akenhead (6,800,000)
Seat 3: Phil Ivey (9,765,000)
Seat 4: Kevin Schaffel (12,390,000)
Seat 5: Steven Begleiter (29,885,000)
Seat 6: Eric Buchman (34,800,000)
Seat 7: Joseph Cada (13,215,000)
Seat 8: Antoine Saout (9,500,000)
Seat 9: Jeff Shulman (19,580,000)

And now many hours later... the number of players has been reduced (at this time when I awoke to start reading up and post my own blog entry) down to 3 players left. As I read back through the coverage provided by PokerNews (no I didn't stay up to read and listen along, sorry cheer_dad's just not that dedicated from here in the hills of WV) here are some of the things which catch my eye and interest, including the names of those who have been eliminated thus far. So, if you want to keep it a surprise until it airs on TV... stop reading now! I'm serious, here we go... Last chance...

It was nearly an hour into play before a Turn and then a River card were even seen, at Hand #28. It was a check-down hand between Jeff Schulman and Eric Buchman. Buchman came up with the winner.

Just under 13 hours ago, James Akenhead was eliminated in 9th Place and thus finally lays claim to 9th place prize money of $1,263,602. Although, recall that everyone was already paid roughly that amount before the big break. Congratulations on having come so far Mr. Akenhead! And then there were 8.

Just over 12 hours ago, on hand #68 - Kevin Schaffel was eliminated in 8th Place ($1,300,231) with a gut wrenching hand! Schaffel got it all-in with his pocket Aces and found himself up against the pocket Kings of Eric Buchman. A gut wrenching King came out on the flop, only to have the only other King in the deck arrive on the TURN! Yeah, I think Quad Kings are good here! Ouch! Still, congratulations to Mr. Schaffel. And then there were 7.

This snippet update from PokerNews.com's "donpeters" made me laugh,
"Ivey Color Blind?

Phil Ivey just found an orange T5,000 chip mixed in with one of his stacks. Those chips were colored up a while ago and are not in play anymore. Ivey simply took the chip off the table and gave it to the tournament staff. Who needs an extra 5,000 anyway?"

At the Dinner Break (9pm Las Vegas time) they were still at 7 players and Eric Buchman was now in first place in the chip counts, instead of Darvin Moon, for a change of pace.

Tournament Directory Jack Effel reminded the crowd that it took 169 hands to get the final table down to a heads up match at last year's WSOP. Clearly that record is going down...

Hand #175... ugh! Two of my favorites come clashing together. Phil Ivey gets it all in only to be called by Darvin Moon. Phil rolls over AK to Darvin's AQ. Unfortunately for Ivey a Queen would peel off on the flop and that was all she wrote... Phil Ivey is eliminated in 7th Place ($1,404,014.) Congratulations to Phil, I know it's not what you were looking for and I had high hopes, but it happens. The crowd in the Penn and Teller theater begins to disperse. And then there were 6.

Not long after on hand #187 Moon would once again thin the field. And again he has AQ! Darvin would move all-in and get a snap call from Steve Begleiter, who rolled over QQ! Another gut-wrenching card rears its ugly head this time on the river as an Ace is displayed, dashing Begleiter's hopes and putting Darvin back on top of the chip counts. Steve Begleiter is eliminated in 6th Place ($1,587,160.) And then there were 5.

Things tightened up a great deal after Begleiter's departure, and snails were seen zipping by...

It would be hand #236 that would claim another victim, this time in the form of Jeff Shulman who was unfortunately eliminated in 5th Place ($1,953,452.) This time, Antoine Saout's A9 goes up against Shulman's pocket 7s. Again, fate is sealed when a stray 9 hits the board on the flop and Shulman doesn't improve. Congratulations to Mr. Shulman.

Hand #271 would claim another casualty. Eric Buchman was eliminated in 4th Place ($2,502,890) when he gets it all-in versus Darvin Moon. Buchman with A5os vs Moon's KJs. This time a King peels off the deck on the turn, sending Buchman to the rail. Congratulations to Mr. Buchman, but then there were 3.

It should be noted that last year's WSOP ran only a total of 275 hands, including heads-up play.

Hand #276, would bring things to a close for the Day 1! Antoine Saout was eliminated in 3rd Place ($3,479,670) at the hands of "21 year-old-youngster" Joe Cada. Saout would shove all-in with pocket 8s and get the call from Cada's AKos. This time, suspense reigns and a King comes off the deck on the RIVER! The crowd (full of Cada's supporters) goes wild. Congratulations to Mr. Saout on having come so far. And then finally there were 2.

And now... we are down to heads up and things wrap up quickly as two clearly weary players will now get some deserved rest (well maybe.)

Chip stacks of the two are now at:

Joseph Cada 135,950,000
Darvin Moon 58,850,000

Go get some sleep guys, honestly! Don't even think about the difference between 2nd place and 1st place, although it's $8,547,042 to the winner and a mere $ 5,182,928 for the other guy... Oh and don't forget some shiny jewelry!!!

My personal special thanks goes out to the phenomenal blogger/reporters of the PokerNews.com Team, who continued their coverage of Day 1 for 17-1/2 hours. They have done an outstanding job with their coverage of the WSOP 2009 and I for one greatly appreciate ALL their efforts!

Regards,

cheer_dad

The November Nine...

The Main Event of the 2009 World Series of Poker now will pause until November 7th. The final nine players have been assembled. As was the case last year, to allow for "greater" media coverage of the Main Event, and to build anticipation for the ESPN airing the break will allow broadcast of the rest of the series and lead up to the final table play of the "November Nine."

Here they are:

Seat 1: Darvin Moon - 58,930,000
Seat 2: James Akenhead - 6,800,000
Seat 3: Phil Ivey - 9,765,000
Seat 4: Kevin Schaffel - 12,390,000
Seat 5: Steven Begleiter - 29,885,000
Seat 6: Eric Buchman - 34,800,000
Seat 7: Joe Cada - 13,215,000
Seat 8: Antoine Saout - 9,500,000
Seat 9: Jeff Shulman - 19,580,000

This assembly of players is certain to make for an exciting final table. All are to be congratulated for this amazing feat, but in this, the greatest of all poker tournaments there will ultimately be only one winner. $1,263,602 is the minimum that any one of them can go away with at this point, but at the top of the pile a champion will emerge to walk away with $8,546, 435 and the WSOP gold bracelet. Players, congratulations to you all!

And now for the long break...

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Main Event Day 7 wrap-up

At the end of Day 7 of the WSOP 2009 Main Event only 27 players remained. Darvin Moon held on to the chip lead with a whopping 20,160,000 in chips. Phil Ivey remained in contention, in 4th place. Also, Jeff Shulman, James Akenhead, Joseph Cada, Ludovic Lacay, and Antonio Esfandiari.

Those who did not survive the night of note to me were: Blair Rodman, Eugene Katchalov, Dennis Phillips, Hung Pham, Tom Schneider, and Joe Sebok.

The field will play down on Day 8 to the final 9 players. Then of course the long break until November.

Sorry, I didn't get things posted until now.

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Main Event, 64 players remain after Day 6

Heading into Day 7 of the WSOP 2009 Main Event only 64 players remain of the 6,494 who started, over a week ago. The current chip leader with 9,745,000 in chips is Darvin Moon, followed by Billy Kopp with 8,245,000, and in third position is Phil Ivey with 6,345,000. Others remaining include Ludovic Lacay Antonio Esfandiari, Jeff Shulman, Joseph Cada, Eugene Katchalov, Tom Schneider, Dennis Phillips, Blair Rodman, James Akenhead, and Joe Sebok.

Overnight casualties (since last night's post) include: Peter Eastgate, Matt Affleck, Kenny Tran, and Minh Nguyen.

I'm very excited to see the likes of Phil Ivey, Antonio Esfandiari, and Dennis Phillips going so deep in the Main Event! I can't wait to see it all unfold again when it airs.

Regards,

cheer_dad

Las Vegas Welcome Sign Vandalized

Is nothing sacred? http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jul/13/vandals-hit-fabulous-las-vegas-sign/ Thanks to Uncle June for the link.

The family and I are still beachside at Myrtle Beach, SC, soaking in sun, surf, and lotsa suds! Hope all is well with all my blogladytes...

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Main Event Day 6, at the dinner break

Status of day 6 WSOP 2009 Main Event heading into the dinner break your chip leader is Darvin Moon with 5.7million in chips. There are only 101 players left in the running. The names which jump off the page at me are: Eugene Katchalov, Jeff Shulman, Phil Ivey (2.68), Ludovic Lacay, Antonio Esfandiari, Dennis Phillips (2.2), Tom Schneider, Peter Eastgate, Blair Rodman, Matt Affleck, Joe Sebok and Kenny Tran.

Bustouts on the day so far: David Benyamine, Joe Hachem, JC Tran, Bertrand 'LkY' Grospellier, Eric Cloutier, Blair Hinkle Nasr, El Nasr, and Joe Serock.

Guaranteed payout at this point is $40,288. Meanwhile that top spot looms off in the distance at $8,546,435. There's still a lot of star power left in this one. I'm excited over the action, stay tuned!

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Main Event Day 5 "carnage"

Warren Zackey is the current chipleader following Day 5 of play in the Main Event of WSOP. He is currently just under 5 million in chips. Still many are right on his heels. There are now 185 players remaining, vying for that top spot. Let's go through the ones that jump off the page to me. In 5th place currently is Tom Schneider, James Akenhead in 7th, Matt Affleck 8th. Here's many of the others... Noah Boeken, Nasr El Nasr, Ludovic Lacay, Bertrand 'Elky' Grospellier, Phil Ivey, Theo Tran, Eric Cloutier, Blair Hinkle, Joe Sebok, Joe Hachem, Peter Eastgate, Blair Rodman, Joe Serock, Dennis Phillips, Kenny Tran, David Benyamine, Antonio Esfandiari, Lou Diamond Phillips, JC Tran, and Jeff Shulman.

Bustouts top to bottom, those I know: Nick Schulman, Amir Lehavot, Vitaly Lunkin, Andy Black, Kara Scott, Dan Harrington, Dan Shak, Rolf Slotboom, Burt Boutin, Sorel Mizzi, and Thor Hansen.

Everyone still in is guaranteed at this point $36,626 of course hoping for much more. But not a bad prospect to know that you will be more than tripling up. Good Luck to them all!

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Main Event Day 4 results

Day 4 of the Main Event of the WSOP 2009 concluded just a few minutes ago. And now the 789 who started... 407 players are all that are left. Everyone is now in the money, in fact for the last couple of hundred they have been.
The current chipleader is Ludovic Lacay, with over 1.6 million in chips. Here's a quick rundown of other still in the hunt: Matt Affleck, Blair Hinkle, Bertrand "Elki" Grospellier, Phil Ivey, Theo Tran, Hung Pham, Kenny Tran, Nick Schulman, Lou Diamond Phillips, Nasr El Nasr, Dennis Phillips, Kara Scott, Joe Hachem, Eric Cloutier, Joe Sebok, Joe Serock, David Benyamine, JC Tran, Amir Lehavot, Antonio Esfandiari, Dan Shak, Sorel Mizzi, Bobby Baldwin, Vitaly Lunkin, and Rolf Slotboom.

Bustouts for the day: Mike Sexton, Victor Greeley, Phil Hellmuth, Justin Bonomo, Van Nguyen, Paul Wasicka, Chris Ferguson, David Williams, Kristy Gazes, Brian Lemke, Hevad Khan, J.C. Alvarado, and Greg 'FBT' Mueller.

407 players remain... and now I'm heading down to the beach!
Regards,
cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Main Event Day 3, my impression after the fact

Apparantly whilst, I drove and slept but not at the same time (heading to the beach) the WSOP continued to play way far away in Vegas. 789 players survived Friday. Among those who survived and returned for Day 4 of the Main Event of the World Series of Poker 2009, here is my version of name dropping (short stacks to larger):

Chris Bell, Phi Nguyen, J.C. Alvarado, Tim Phan, CK Hua, Greg 'FBT' Mueller, Mark Gregorich , JC Tran, Van Nguyen, Vitaly Lunkin, Thor Hansen, Matt Molinari, Jeff Shulman, David Williams, Dan Harrington, Nick Schulman, Peter Eastgate, Paul Wasicka, Sorel Mizzi, Joe Sebok, Eric Cloutier, Joe Serock, Lou Diamond Phillips, Phil Ivey, David Benyamine, Brian Lemke, Mike Sexton, Kara Scott, Theo Tran, Phil Hellmuth, Dennis Phillips, Justin Bonomo, Blair Rodman, Blair Hinkle, Nasr, El Nasr, Kenny Tran, Matt Affleck, and Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier.
Follow up post regarding Day 4... is coming immediately after I post this one. I'm just now catching up.

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Main Event Day 2b over, Friday is Day 3

***EDIT*** It seems my earlier information was flawed, by following the "Chip Counts" area of the PokerNews.com. The numbers of players still left and the chipleader are all different.
My corrections are marked below in RED! All of this is according to http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/7166-wsop-complete-day-3-chip-counts AND http://www.pokernews.com/news/2009/07/wsop-main-event-day-2b-lehavot-tops-massive-field-6921.htm...... BUT not what was reported elsewhere on PokerNews.com http://www.pokernews.com/wsop/2009/event-57/chip-counts/day2b/. Sorry I got it wrong...

Day 2b of Event 57 - $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold'em concluded yesterday. The total # of players returning for Day 3 from 2a and 2b is 2,044. Today, the players enjoyed a lull in the action. They all got to take a much needed cleansing breath before heading back to the tables on Friday. So there will be no Main Event play going on today. 648 places get paid.

Amir Lehavot is now the chipleader with a whopping 610,500 in chips. He is followed next by Peter DeBaene with 465,000 in chips. These two weren't listed as being in the Top 10. According to the accurate articles here's the rundown:

Amir Lehavot 610,500
Peter DeBaene 465,000
Troy Weber 453,200
Dan Bilzerian 439,500
Franklin Grigsby 424,400
Gabe Walls 417,900
Mikael Thuritz 395,400
Andrew Gaw 386,800
Eric Cloutier 383,500
Jason Brice 376,100

***Beyond that I believe everything else is accurate. If I find out differently, you'll see it here!***

But back to Day 2b, and who survived and moves on to Day 3:

Phil Ivey (currently 14th), JC Tran, Kenny Tran, Josh Arieh, Jeff Shulman, Paul Wasicka, Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier, David Benyamine, Justin Bonomo, Lou Diamond Phillips, Dan Harrington, Jeff Lisandro, Brian Lemke, Antonio Esfandiari, Theo Tran, Jean Robert-Bellande, Blair Hinkle, J.C. Alvarado, Dutch Boyd, Nasr El Nasr, Phil Hellmuth, Havad Khan, Joe Hachem, Adam Schoenfeld, Dennis Phillips, Toto Leonidas, Lee Markholt, Minh Nguyen, Tuan Le, Peter Eastgate, Brandon Lee, Nick chulman, Jimmy Tran, Dan Shak, 'Miami' John Cernuto, Terrence Chan, Kristy Gases, Cyndy Violette, Robert Mizrachi, Tony Hachem, Chau Giang, Dario Alioto, Blair Rodman, David 'Devilfish' Ulliott, Alex Bolotin, Kido Pham, Hasan Habib, Lee Watkinson, Tim Phan, Amnon Filippi, Brandon Adams, Max Pescatori, Young Phan, Humberto Brenes, Scott Ian, John Juanda, Liz Lieu, Nam Le, Bryan Devonshire, Jennifer Harman, Brian Devonshire, Chad Brown, Steve Zolotow, Ville Wahlbeck, and Marco Traniello.

Now, to the bad news, and those who busted on Day 2b:

Nenad Medic, Marlon Wayans, Tom 'durrrr' Dwan, Ylon Schwartz, Daniel Alaei, Maya Geller (if Mr. Antonius doesn't console you enough... I'm here), Phil Tom, Adam Levy, David Sklansky, Gavin Griffin, Justin SMith, Lee Childs, Howard Lederer, Michael Mizrachi, Kathy Liebert, Scotty Nguyen, Vanessa Rousso (again, I'm here), Shannon Shorr, Victor Ramdin, Eric Froehlich, Lauren Kling (one more time, I'm here), Paul Darden, and Erick Lindgren.

There's still lots and lots of poker to be played. I, cheer_dad, your humble poker blogger will continue to follow along and share what I know. Thanks for following along with my take on the 2009 edition of the WSOP Main Event! Again, I'm sorry about the errors from the earlier posting, but my sources to verify were limited at work, and I didn't stumble across these other sources until I got home.

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Main Event 2b underway

The cards and chips have been flying around at the WSOP on this 2b day of the Main Event... for a little over an hour now. 2,924 players are jammed around the tables hoping to chip up and be one of the survivors to move forward another day. According to the PokerNews.com crew, the 'all-ins and calls' have been coming in fast and furious already. One of these resulted in an early exit for one of my favorites... Erick Lindgren. Sorry 'E-Dog'!

Stay tuned for more action!

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Main Event Day 2a done, 2b today

Day 2a of the WSOP's Event 57 - $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold'em concluded a little over 3 hours ago. 1,476 began the journey yesterday but only 630 survived to play another day. The current chip leader is Eric Cloutier, sitting on 384,000 in chips. The best known name currently in the top 10 (7th) is Greg 'RBT' Mueller with a sizable stack of 311k. However, a much larger field will begin Day 2b today, and stacks may certainly swell. Patience, we'll just have to wait and see!

Other notable names who survived 2a are: Andy Black, Mike Sexton, Sorel Mizzi, Chris Ferguson, Jimmy Fricke, Thor Hansen, Pamela Brunson, Vitaly Lunkin, Tom Schneider, Kara Scott, Greg Raymer, Joe Sebok, Jason Alexander, Sam Farha, Van Nguyen, Dewey Tomko, Erik Seidel, Rolf Slotboom, Carlos Mortensen, Joe Serock, Bill Edler, Bruno Fitoussi, and Roland de Wolfe.

Casualties include: Eli Elezra, Juha Helppi, 'Amarillo' Slim Preston, Mike Matusow, Gavin Smith, Todd Brunson, Alex Kravchenko, Michael DeMichele, Mel Juday, Erik Cajelais, Hoyt Corkins, Beth Shak, Micheal Craig, Shaun Deeb, Jason Mercier, Barry Greenstein, Jennifer Tilly, Tony G, Phil Laak, Mike Caro, Katja Thater, Brian Townsend, Barry Shulman, Jon 'PearlJammed' Turner, Johnny 'frickin' Chan, and Gus Hansen.

There's still lots of poker to be played here people. Day 2b as I said returns today after which we'll be to the point at which the entire field of remaining players will be part of one big pool, which will be playing simultaneously. Players will get a day of rest, on Thursday, while instead a media event will take place, beginning at 1pm. Then, the action gets going again on Friday for Day 3.

I leave for family vacation Friday night, to Myrtle Beach, SC. So, yes the laptop will be packed and the idiocy that is my blogging will continue. I wouldn't want any of you to miss me! I'll be thinking of you all as I pickle my liver... and slowly turn myself into a Chicken Nugget while lying on the shore. Hope they don't mistake me for a beached whale again and try to roll my ass back into the ocean.

Right in the "brow hole!"

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Main Event Day 1d done, today is 2a

Day 1d of Event 57 - $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold'em is over now. A total of 2,809 players signed up and played while only 1,816 survived to advance on to Day 2 play. So... a total of 6,494 players entered the WSOP Main Event this year. This number might have swelled according to a number of reports had the Rio been able to accommodate additional players who showed up to play on this final Day 1 of the event. But every seat in the house was filled, and Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack ultimately had to put his foot down and close registration, when they reached capacity. Read the article here: http://www.pokernews.com/news/2009/07/wsop-day-1d-advance-sellout-leaves-hundreds-out-main-event-6908.htm. But the plain sad truth is that when players wait until the last minute there is a very real danger that they could be left on the outside, looking in. That was the case here. Ya snooze ya lose! Had the RIO and WSOP staff had prior commitments and $$$ in hand that players wanted to play, they might have been able to plan accordingly. But I agree with and support the decision which was finally reached to simply call it FULL and turn folks away. It might be the hard line, but it can and will be planned for in the future. It might also get a few players not to drag their feet in the future. I would support registration in advance... and being assigned randomly the day on which you play. Accommodation for day changes would be accomplished within reason and only on a first come first serve basis, but NEVER after the fact. Probably not necessarily an opinion that will be shared among the poker community, but hey it's my blog. Go get your own!

Back to the numbers... 6,494 players entered in the 2009 WSOP Main Event, which is down from the 2008 edition which hosted 6,844 players. 2007 was 6,358, and the record holder of 2006 still stands at 8,773. Arguably, the numbers from this year to last are down by 350 players. Top prize payout will be in the neighborhood of $8,548,435 (the % amount due to the November 9 delay notwithstanding.) That is down from the 2008 top spot of $9,152,416. BUT none of this points toward a "downturn" in poker. Sure we're down from last year and we haven't swelled to the 2006 glory year, BUT that was all pre UIGEA, Neteller, PartyPoker crackdown, and any number of other idiocies that have been thrown at the poker world. I'd say POKER is doing just fine, thank you very much. Take that and stick it in your bankroll! The toal prize pool for this year to be paid out to 648 players is still a whopping $61,043,600. Nothing to sneeze at!

Now, time for some comparisons... The chip leader of the Day 1D entrants, and frankly the overall leader at this point is Troy Weber with 353,000 in chips. Next closest is Tyson Marks (Day 1D too) with 196,500 in chips. In fact, the top four of Day 1D are out in front of the pack, until we come to the chip stack of Joe Cada on Day 1c. Day 1b game us Brandon Demes at 137,075, and 1a had Redmond Lee chime in at 134,275. You would have to go at least 20 players deep into the chip stacks for the Day 1D survivors to find sub 134k stacks. But what does it all really matter anyway... there's a helluva lot of poker yet to be played.

Recognizable names to have survived Day 1d, let's get to skimming the list: JC Tran, Josh Arieh (both in the top 20,) Bertrand 'ElkY' Grospellier, Dutch Boyd, Adam Schoenfeld, Tony Hachem, Phil Ivey, David Benyamine, Blair Hinkle, Nasr El Nasr, Antonio Esfandiari, Matthew Hilger, JC Alvarado, Bobby Baldwin, Cyndy Violette, Marco Traniello, Lou Diamond Phillips, Ping Chang Yung (just because that's a name that caught my eye,) Kenny Tran, Minh Nguyen, Jen Harman, Lee Markholt, Michael Mizrachi, Nam Le, Peter Eastgate, Max Pescatori, Jeff Shulman, Kathy Liebert, James McManus, Ville Wahlbeck, Bryan Devonshire, Chau Giang, Tom 'durrrr' Dwan, Erick Lindgren, Humberto Brenes, and Vanessa Rousso. I believe in miracles, but several of those I mentioned (particularly after Kathy Liebert, are in 'shove' territory at this point.

Victims who fell on Day 1d: Victor Ramdin, Brock Parker, Clonie Gowen (i'm here for ya honey if u need that hug, like I offered last year,) Daniel Alaei, David Chiu, Jimmy Tran, Kristy Gazes, Leif Force, Lisa Hamilton, Robert Iler, Scott Ian, Shannon Elizabeth, Phil Gordon, James Mackey, Scott Freeman, Michael Binger, Ray Romano, Chip Jett, Scott Clements, Scott Fischman, Shawn Sheikhan, Mimi Tran, Shirley Rosario, Adam Friedman, Svetlana Gromenkova, Ivan Demidov, Jeff Madsen, Mark Seikf, Phil 'OMGClayAiken' Galfond, Roy Winston, Huck Seed, Torrie Wilson, Lyle Berman, Scott Montgomery and Dario Minieri. Yes... yes... there were others and I'm sure some of 'em were even 'your' buddies but get your OWN! This blog's mine!

I'd like to see a list of "notables" who missed the boat (errr Main Event) by not getting registered in time, but that's all just hearsay and conjecture at this point. Anyway, HIGH NOON today, Day 2a of the Main Event will get started. The circus will continue!

Regards,

cheer_dad

P.S. Oh, I also wanted to mention the Ante Up For Africa charity tournament. Alex Bolotin won the top prize of $177,730, and donated half back to the charity as did nearly everyone who got paid in the event! 138 players ponied up the $5k entry, read more about it here: http://www.pokernews.com/news/2009/07/alex-bolotin-captures-ante-up-for-africa-charity-win-6890.htm.

WSOP 2009 Main Event Day 1c ends, Day 1d today

Day 1 c of Event 57 - $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold'em has come to a close as the 1,696 players wrapped things up. No word yet on how many were dropped from the ranks. According to PokerNews.com there was a scheduling change which had the players of 1c and today's 1d play for 5 levels instead of mimicking the 4 levels that Days 1a and 1b did. This was necessary to level the field, and make the size manageable for when the "crowd" eventually comes together for "Day 3" play. To be fair the returners for Day 2a on Wednesday will be playing 5 levels to instead of a customary 4 to balance things out. Let it go... it really does make good sense. This step has caused some chip stacks to soar for a few players. Currently it appears that Joe Cada is first in chips for the Day 1c players. Around 6th place in chips currently is an all-too-familiar name in the form of Jeff Lisandro, who has already taken home an impressive 3 bracelets in this series. (I'm convinced he's borrowed my wife's horseshoe!)

Others remaining from the Day 1c encounter are: Justin Bonomo, Amonon Filippi, Alex Bolotin, Joe Hachem, Hevad Khan, Chris Bell, Lee Watkinson, Terrence Chan, Allen Kessler, Dennis Phillips, Isabelle Mercier, Hasan Habib, Dan Harrington, Justin 'Boosted J' Smith, Scotty Nguyen, 'Miami' John Cernuto, John Juanda, Howard Lederer, Di 'Urindager' Dang, Maya Gellar, Ylon Schwartz, Robert Mizrachiki, Matt Hawrilenko, Dan Shak, Steve Dannenmann, Gavin Griffin, Phil Hellmuth, Paul Wasicka, Liz Lieu, and Lee Childs.

Sadly, we had some notables go bust as well including: Matt Savage, Matt Matros, Marcel Luske, JJ Liu, Liv Boeree, Tom McEvoy, David Singer, Erica Schoenberg, Brandon Cantu, Annie Duke, Jamie Gold, Lacey Jones, David 'Chino' Rheem, Evelyn Ng, and Daniel Negreanu.

Phil Hellmuth, continued his bratty ways through the day after making the ENTRANCE that I still shudder to think about... On one of his last hands of the day, it looks like a little deception came back to bite him in the ass and took him down to 25k in chips and sent him from the table in a tirade. Poor Phil... : )

Stay tuned for more from the fine folks at PokerNews.com.

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 ...The Entrance of Phil...

~~Main Event of the World Series of Poker 2009~~
Event 57 - $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold'em.
This 'guy' makes his entrance...


Okay, I think I threw up in my mouth a little there...

But keep on scrolling down, I've linked the ENTIRE Arrival Procession of Phil Hellmuth. Legend in his own mind!






Regards,

cheer_dad

P.S. I am soooo very sorry...

WSOP 2009 Main Event update Day 1b, 1c is today

Numbers were decidedly down for Day 1b of play in Event 57 - $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold'em, with only 873 showing up to battle it out. Let's not get silly and say that poker is dead yet, okay?!? 655 players survived the day including these folks I recognized skimming along: Joe Sebok, Shaun Deeb, Michael Demichele, Alex Kravchenko, Amarillo Slim Preston, Rolf Slotboom, Hoyt Corkins, Greg Raymer, Mike 'The Mouth' Matusow, Thor Hansen, Todd Brunson, Pam Brunson, Chris Ferguson, Kara Scott, Barry Greenstein, Erik Seidel, Carlos Mortensen, and Mike Caro.

Casulaties of the day: Doyle Brunson, David 'The Dragon' Pham, and Chris Moneymaker. (ouch)

On tap for today will be Day 1c, and we'll have to wait what the numbers say today, which is usually a big day for big names and numbers in the Main Event. Stay tuned for more poker at PokerNews.com.

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Main Event Day 1a update, and other ramblings

1,116 players showed up for Day 1a of Event 57 - $10,000 World Championship No Limit Hold'em. 821 of those remain to continue when Days 1b, c, and d are completed and we actually move on to a Day 2. Scanning through the returners I spot Eli Elezra, Tom Schneider, Joe Serock, Vitaly Lunkin, Jimmy Fricke, Phil Laak, Michael Craig, Erik Cajelais, Tony G., Gus Hansen, Barry Shulman, Taylor Caby, Greg 'FBT' Mueller, Dewey Tomko, Mel Judah, Roland De Wolfe, Sam Farha, Beth Shak, Jon 'PearlJammer' Turner, Jennifer Tilly, and Johnny Chan.

Some of the casualties of Day 1a include: Andy Bloch, Allen Cunningham, Men 'The Master' Nguyen, Steve Billirakis, David Grey, Isaac Haxton, Orel Hershiser, Gabe Kaplan, Mark Vos, Freddy Deeb, Matthew Glantz, and Nelly.

Hey, I'm sure I may have missed some of the advancers and some of the bustouts that may be of interest to you; but I just skimmed through things to get a feel for the way things went. If I didn't list you or your favorite "pony" get your own blog and follow along at PokerNews.com. : )

In other news, closer to home here in the hills of WV... Big Red and I played poker last night at the Stanwick's home. They opted for the hosting duty while Yanok's are having some basement remodeling done. Thanks again by the way! I was the first bustout, having a case of 2nd best on a number of hands and then ramming chips toward the middle against Jill, and she turned over her pocket rockets. OOPS! Still I had a great time as always with everyone who was there. Them's my peeps! I went ahead and came home early leaving Red to finish and play in the 2nd game. I was a little anxious to get back and repair the virus/malware damage I'd done to my computer earlier in the evening. In an attempt to download another album for the iPod from the newgroups (shhhhh) I zigged when I shoulda zagged and unleashed a number pesky trojans. I'm now happy to report that all infections have been cleared up. Mostly thanks to ComboFix, one of the few scanning/cleaning tools that I found that wisely does it's work following a reboot and before all of Windows is loaded. It got to the heart of the problems and cleaned everything up. I was dealing with 'b.exe,' 'c.exe,' 'systemsecurity2009,' 'sopidkc.exe,' and 'overclick' within the browser. So, if you run into any of this crap, save yourself some time and frustration and skip ahead and give Combofix a try.

Today, we are headed over to Teresa's aunt's house for a cookout, and then later to Ellen's for the City Park fireworks festivities. Surely, I can smuggle in a beer there somewhere! Have a Happy 4th of July everyone!

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Event 56 winner, Main Event starts TODAY

Event 56 - $5,000 Six-handed No Limit Hold'em has ended and we find Matt Hawrilenko holding the WSOP gold and a nice $1,003,163 payday for his efforts. Congratulations.

This clears to way for the Main Event which will get underway today at HIGH NOON in the Amazon Room of the Rio. Can't you just feel the excitement in the air??? Okay, well maybe you can't, but I can and trust me it's there! : P

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Event 54 & 55 winners, updates 56 & 57

The winner of Event 54 - $1,500 No Limit Hold'em is Tony Veckey. He bested the field of 2,818 players to take home the WSOP gold and a cool $673,276 for the effort. Congratulations.

The last man standing in Event 55 - $2,500 Limit Deuce to Seven Triple Draw is Abe Mosseri. He battled through the 257 player field to claim $165,521 his first WSOP bracelet. Congratulations.

Day 3 of Event 56 - $5,000 Six-handed No Limit Hold'em will get back underway at 1:00pm today, when the 16 remaining players of the 928 who started get moving again. Stay tuned.

That leaves only the Main Event... which gets underway on FRIDAY! It's gonna be a long haul, but I'll love every second of it, and every word written about it.

Regards,

cheer_dad

WSOP 2009 Event 49 H.O.R.S.E. 50k buyin is OVER!

We have a WINNER folks!!! David Bach has finally won Event 49 - $50,000 World Championship H.O.R.S.E.!!! Play has JUST ended at the epic final table. The final table action had played for more than 20 HOURS! 7 hours of that was Heads-Up between David Bach and John Hanson. 492 hands were played at the final table, which surpasses all previous records for final table battles, including last year's WSOPE which went for 484 hands. Both of these gentlemen are to be commended if for nothing other than their staying power. Bach takes home $1,276,802 for the effort. Hanson, comes in second but does take home $789,199. Bach of course takes the WSOP gold bracelet and the Chip Reese Memorial Tournament Trophy. Congratulations indeed!

Also, lest you forget. change100 and TassieDevil of the PokerNews.com crew are to be commended for the continued commentary of the 20+ hour battle in this event. You have our sincere admiration, thanks, and maybe even a little... pity!

Go get some sleep...

Regards,

cheer_dad